


Kogane and McClain's Break from Adulting

by Teal_Rainbeau



Series: Voltron as inspired by 80s flicks [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boyfriends Showing Off, College Student Keith (Voltron), Date Night, Domestic Fluff, Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Hot Weather, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, Lance (Voltron) is a Ray of Sunshine, Lance Is a High School Graduate, Late at Night, M/M, Monthly Klance Prompts April 2019, Post-High School, Stressed Keith (Voltron), Summer Love, Summer Vacation, healthy competition, monthly klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 20:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18557326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_Rainbeau/pseuds/Teal_Rainbeau
Summary: One hot summer evening, Lance suggests something unusual for his stoic, stressed boyfriend. And Keith agrees to it because it's so much easier that way..._______________________A little something I put together for the Monthly Klance April Prompt (Domesticity). If you want to participate yourselves, here's theirTumblr Page





	Kogane and McClain's Break from Adulting

**Author's Note:**

> And here's my first Klance fic that started it all: [Garrett and McClain's Day Off](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16680847)

The afternoon went off without a spark. Except for the crackling of the sun on the asphalt, with wind that only added to the prickliness on anyone’s skin. Santa Balmera was going through an uncharacteristically warm summer day, with the inner city brimming with temperatures in the early 90s at two in the afternoon.

Also adding to the lack of a spark was a depressed Keith who was rather unbending to the radiance of his boyfriend’s presence. Not even the wave of Twenty-One Pilots was helping his mood. At this point, who cared if Blurryface cared?

Keith made a mistake inviting Lance two hours from the comfort of his air-conditioned house in Garrison Valley. Another day hanging with his boyfriend and he longed for just one more opportunity to relive the energy of that fateful day in late March. When they first met five minutes away on campus and decided on a whim to explore Santa Balmera together.

Lightning really didn’t strike twice in the same area, did it?

Despite the restful meantime of the summer, it was also dry, and what else were two post-high school boys going to do? Lance used up all his allowance for the week and wouldn’t be doing odd jobs for Veronica for a while. Thankfully, he could begin work in a week at Garrison County’s local radio station catering to locals and residents. Volunteering at his old school was another option that would’ve been great for his resume, but not so much for his pocketbook.

Meanwhile, Keith had to make each bit of his last dollar stretch. And that meant no liberal spending at the boardwalk or the VR arcade.  Add that on top of an apartment lease that was already two months away from expiring, and he would have to quickly and quietly find another place to live under normal circumstances. Approaching his third year meant he would not be eligible for lower division housing anymore, which was heavily discounted at $1000 a quarter thanks to his scholarship. And most upper division students flocked to pricier off-campus housing. He thought of asking Lance if he could crash with him and Hunk, but they were incoming freshmen who had the miniscule option of living on-campus or at home. Hunk was going to commute, he now remembered the larger boy saying.

Thus, having to return to Texas with the goal of working with his father to save up just enough for an apartment deposit. Financial Aid _might_ cover the rest…

“I have barely enough to go to the dollar store for groceries this week.”

His boyfriend dropped his head like he was faking contemplation, but he could see the swell of his lips as they formed a small pout.

“Wait a minute, what have you even been munching on?”

“I’ve munched on air.” Keith made a dry but sick joke. The other boy’s pout sprouted a crop of scrutiny in his frown.

“Alright, Kogane. Next time you wanna “digest oxygen”, at least send me a text so I can bring you a week’s worth of my mama’s leftovers.” Air was still pollution on this planet, thanks to _everyone._

“I’m sorry.” Keith looked away sadly, rubbing his tattooed arm.

Lance rose from his spot on the rug and went over to the window where the college boy stood and comforted him with a kiss on the cheek. As beautiful as his pensive indigo jewels shimmered in the deepening darkness of sunset, there was no damn room for that type of sadness on his watch.

“Why have friends if you won’t call on us?”

“Because there’s only so much you can do.”

Keith was probably right. Lance also knew that he prided on self-sufficiency, especially with all the madness that life has demanded of him in recent times. The last time that Lance asked him how his mother was doing, he shifted his weight uncomfortably and ended the subject with a simple “better”.

Maybe he needed to escape reality for just a little longer, Lance believed.

~~~~~

So while munching on McClain comfort food of pulled pork and skirt steak with sides, the two sat on Keith’s secondhand couch while nuzzled together in front of Lance’s cellphone-turned-small sit-in theater. The saturation of sunset long subsided while the gentle porcelain glow of moonlight provided generously enough to compensate for the dark vacuum of an unpaid electric bill.

Timelessness became a much more valuable commodity than time itself in their small bubble. Keith would have resisted this with any other person. But the Cuban boy created a silent hum of appeal for such self-indulgence. No worrying about what to eat, none of that mapping out how long it would take for him to pack his things from childhood that he took simply to reduce his mother’s clutter. And screw worries about financial aid. Just get lost in this 80s classic and chill out.

Before long, his attempts at compartmentalization backfired deeply. Mental articles littered his path of complete Zen and present comfort. The familiar burn of anxiety returned to his chest and thumped him mercilessly in the bridge of his skull.

Between monitoring his mother and working full time, would he truly be able to face the demands of his old life in Balmera this fall?

“What’s wrong, babe?” Lance asked. He could feel Keith shift against his shoulder as the other boy’s breathing deepened slowly.

“Nothing.” He maintained.

With that pitiful answer, Lance exited the movie screen and tucked his phone back in his pocket, but not before unplugging the earphone jack and taking back the buds that they were sharing.

“Alright, time for some fresh air!” Lance suddenly peeped with a stretch.

Keith rose an eyebrow in perplexity. “Where would we go?”

“To the playground! Come on, what do you say?”

Keith sat with his back pressed against the arch of the couch. “I say what business would two grown men have at a children’s play structure?!” Besides, it was now going on nine in the evening and still lukewarm outside.

Lance’s mouth curved downward, but he persisted. “The sticker put ages 3-12 as a _suggestion_!” Being cooped up in here was making him crazy now. Whenever he himself started having to swat away the moths of his own ruminations, all he did was gather his little niece and nephew and make a beeline for their neighborhood play structure. If he was feeling especially pent up, he found himself chasing them across bridges and down slides while pretending to be that scary monster character that he made up in his head. One where stress morphed him and it would take the playful energy of a child to bring him back to his human self again.

It was time to appeal to Keith from an adulting standpoint. “Look, my gas is only going to last until I make it back home. And you don’t have _nada_ to refill your motorcycle with. We’re kinda landlocked as far as dates go.”

“Are we really _that_ desperate?”

“Won’t we have the area all to ourselves. No kids, no nosy, judgy parents who’ll look at us like we’re predators.”

Keith let out an uncertain moan. If Hunk were here, he would side with Keith. He would _also_ end up siding with Lance in the end because of the boy’s strength of conviction and emotional appeal.

Months ago, Lance joked about him wanting to go to the neighborhood park to be a kid again, and he rolled his eyes at the ridicule of the thought. But after the recent challenges of being an adult wrung Keith out, he surrendered to Lance’s fond, enthusiastic eyes and went to the door to put on his black boots as Lance dug his feet into his Chucks.

~~~~~

Keith decided to spend the first hour or so strolling through the neighborhood with him. The actual park was a ten-minute walk and the college boy figured it would be romantic for Lance to hold hands while walking under the pale of the full moon and talking about everything and anything besides what was bothering him, of course. But Lance didn’t prod. They continued like this for a while as the thickness of the day’s earlier heatwave finally descended to a much cooler atmosphere.

“Feeling better?” Lance approached the question with gentleness.

“I will be. I think clearing my head with you helped a bit.”

“Good. Because I was serious about us going.”

Lance was not going to relent on this at all. What would they accomplish by going to a play structure for little kids? The last time he even went to a park was when he ran away from home and brought nothing but his stuffed hippo Yorak and some daydreams about going to space and away from this planet. His father found him asleep in the top cage of a rocket ship-like structure, elevated from the slides below. Even as a kid, Keith was pretty unique…

When Keith told him about it, Lance snickered out of something that was fonder than mockery. But he did smirk and call him a weird kid.

“I was mad! I really believed I was a Space Ranger at the time, but my mom mistakenly threw out my “spaceship”, which was this giant box that had nothing on it but stickers and a few little windows that I drew on with a red marker. I was so upset, and I just ran away while my parents were listening to music on the patio. Was lucky they didn’t call the police.

“Well, yeah!”

As they held hands, Lance swooned internally while they crossed the parking lot where Keith kissed him for the first time. It was just a few feet across from exactly where they were going. Keith tittered when he noticed a blush fading to Lance’s earth-brushed complexion. He remembered what Lance remembered just as vividly, no words required.

“Okay…we’re way too big and tall for the slides.” Keith pointed out once they arrived at the actual play structure.

“But we still got the Jungle gyms, swings and other stuff.” Lance scanned the area. “So…wanna start with swings?”

“Fine with me.”

~~~~~

Swinging was just that. A back and forth pass of cool air and nothing else. But Lance decided to make a competition out of it by smirking and waving his long limbs back and forth like an anchor until he was feet above the ground.

“Looking kinda distant, Keith!” he teased.

“Oh yeah?”

Keith got more enjoyment than he expected out of matching the other boy’s elevation. With a smirk of his own, he raised his eyebrow and pushed with enough gravity to where they were finally neck and neck. But Lance huffed a mischievous giggle and launched from his seat, landing on the sand below. Keith followed suit, nearly missing his footing by landing into a sand pit.  

“Copycat much?!” Lance perched his hands on his hips, receiving a deadpan from the Mullet.

They _could_ get some good exercise, he believed as he noticed a series of elevated bars in an area off to the right. The image of Keith trying to do anything on the bars made his lips tremble with an amused smirk. He sprinted to the area and gathered some sand in his hands to dust his palms with. Channeling his inner third grader, he used his upper body strength to pull himself up as if levitating, doing 360-degree spirals without showing signs of faltering.

“What the- “Keith’s mouth dropped open as quickly as his arms did to his sides. Rachel told him that they used to do gymnastics and color guard and other flexible activities when they were younger... Lance finally did a midair summersault and landed with an Olympic finish.

“Tada! Still got it!” he huffed a cocky sigh.

With a squint and a daring smirk, Keith got an idea. “Hey, Lance! Can you do _this_?” 

Keith strolled to the area where he would use the spaced set of bars. In pure Ninja Warrior fashion, Keith launched to one rung, and grunted lightly as he leapt to a more elevated bar five feet opposite from it, latching on to the rung effortlessly and pulling himself up until he was sitting. He beamed at Lance.

“Smooth, samurai, very _smooth_.” Astonishment brushed his voice. This guy was just showing off now, and as much as his heart fluttered, something else dormant was beginning to rise and ignite with it.

Lance was ready to step up, Keith realized from the pep in his step and the not-so-discreet flicker in his eyes. Before Keith could spot him, he had arrived at the bridge joining the slide areas and the poles.

“Alright, let’s see if I can still do this…” Lance pretended to spit into his palms and rub them together while gaging the short ten feet length of the bridge. Starting with a backwards bend, he used his lean muscle to complete backhanded springs across the bridge.

“Impressive.” Keith smiled, ready for his own chance at showmanship.

Lance stopped and watched him relocate to the grass area, remaining transfixed as Keith performed a horizontal three-foot-long leap in the air and landed with a very clean tuck roll.

“Whoa! Hold on!” Lance performed the time-out signal with his hands and stormed over to his ninja of a boyfriend. “Who the hell taught you _that_?”

With a run of his fingers through his sweaty bangs, Keith smiled and simply said “self-taught.” But the smile itself was absent of cockiness; there was a self-satisfaction instead that was sexier than anything. Yet Lance turned on his heels and puffed his cheeks with his arms folded like a little kid with his back facing him. “You liar!”

“Don’t believe me?”

“Actually, no. I don’t. I don’t frickin’ _believe_ you are _that_ damn awesome!” He looked back around with the humblest features that Keith had ever seen, like he was still pinching himself…

“Your moves blew me away, too.” Keith inched up to him and embraced him from behind, letting him know he was serious, and not just to even some imaginary score. “I could teach you parkour, if you want…”

“I’m holding you to that! For another day, though. That shit wore me out!”

They exchanged laughter and a few subtly passionate kisses. Keith stroked his knuckles through his hair while Lance turned to hold him at the small of his back. The boy’s dark auburn hair had grown a couple of inches longer since his charter school graduation almost two months ago.

In between the transferring seesaw of emotions and utter butterflies, neither of them was mindful of the blue and red propeller of light. Nor did they notice the officer and his partner walking out.

‘Well, well, well. Ain’t this a sight.”

The two dazingly broke the kiss but bristled at the sight of two police officers glaring at them with their hands on their hips.

“You can’t be here. Park’s closed.”

Keith stepped forward, ready to argue. “Not until ten!”

“It’s almost eleven, gentlemen.”

“WHAT?!” They shouted in unison, reflecting shocked glances and covered mouths.

“Yeah…I’ll let you guys off with a warning but know that neighbors here will call for any small disturbance. In your case, loud talking.”

Keith burned a side glance at Lance. Lance just gulped.

“We’re sorry, officer, by the way, tell the deputy trio “hi” for us.” Keith watched him smile with the signature charm that somehow made the most stoic individual crane his neck.

They walked back hand in hand while the officers watched them like hawks.

“We could go back once they leave…” Lance rubbed Keith’s knuckles tenderly with his thumb.

“Don’t push it, Lance.” Keith gripped his hand a little tighter, causing him to wince.

“Okay.”

 ~~*~~

 


End file.
